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I'm kind of in the same boat as I lost my IC due to leaving water in it over the winter (water expansion busted the coil in 20+ places) and my chest freezer/fermentation chamber just died on me. I was initially going to buy a new IC but a new chest freezer, at 3x the cost, is still the smarter...

Since the OP is submerging his temp probe in the wort (which is what I do), there is a way to water-proof the probe on a cheap probe thermometer so that the liquid won't touch the braid and cause the thermometer to flake out. I found this old thread a while back and it really does work...

I agree that mixing in dry sugar vigorously is probably the source of the problem and will be easy to fix for your next brew. I do disagree with the posters saying that siphoning the beer on top of the sugar solution is enough mixing to ensure even distribution of the priming sugar. In my case...

About a year ago I pasteurized a case of cider using a cooler and around 170 degree water. I can't remember how long I let them rest but it was probably between 10 and 20 minutes. Anyway, after they were pasteurized I put the case (minus a 6-pack) in a closet upstairs and basically forgot...

I brewed a Rye Saison off a recipe on these forums and bottled 3 bombers and kegged the rest. The bottling/kegging was done in early October. Since I was only bottling those 3 bombers, I just used table sugar to prime each individual bottle and then put them in the closet to forget about. The...

I use a hair dryer set on low heat. It has a built in circuit breaker that will trip if it overheats. It has worked great for me.

I kegged my batch about a week ago and while it is still a little flat, it is super tasty and the creamy mouthfeel is unreal. I can't wait until it is properly carbed up so I can enjoy it with proper carbonation.

Just had to chime in that this setup looks almost exactly the same as the one I use. Sam's club fold out table with mash cooler on top. The only thing I lack is the fancy pot you have sitting near your table. I'm still using a 7.5 gallon turkey pot for my strike water/boil kettle and have to...

My original plan was to brew this at the beginning of summer but of course time got away from me...and then my kegging supplies began coming together so I decided to wait until I had that completed... So now I have 5.5 gallons in the fermenter as of Monday afternoon and that 3711 is going...

I currently ferment in a small freezer which I am going to also use as a keezer once I brew my next batch of beer. I don't brew very often so it should work ok for me. If I start brewing more often (which I might since I now have the ability to keg) then I might have to start rethinking...

I do the same but I also stir after each 6 pack that I bottle. All my batches prior to using this method had uneven carbonation. Stirring after every 6 bottles is probably overkill, but I really don't think that the whirlpool created by siphoning does a sufficient job of distributing the...

That is exactly what I used until I switched to using a cooler. I think half of the bombs that happen in this thread are because people are letting the bottles touch the bottom of their pot.

I agree, it is a great, safe alternative to the stove top (or in my case outside burner) method. I debated whether to add hot tap water to the cooler first but in the end I just ended up slowly dumping the water in straight from my boil kettle at about 170F and nothing exploded. I really...

I've been using a small blow-off tube using a modified 3 piece airlock but it really hasn't been needed. I'm fermenting 2.5 gallons in a 3 gallon carboy and with champagne yeast or S-05, I have never come close to foaming out of the carboy. I just kinda like the glug, glug noise that comes...

Sorry for bringing back an old thread but I just pasteurized a batch of cider using an old cooler and it worked great! I was able to fit 18 bottles into the cooler and put the last 6 into a smaller cooler (barely holds 6 bottles). Although it took me a lot longer to heat the water since I was...

Just bottled my 3rd batch of this. Did another 2.5 gallons using S-05 yeast. Since I'm cutting the original recipe to 2.5 gallons, I've been cutting the caramel syrup in half as well. This time I just went ahead and made the full amount of caramel sauce plus 2 cans of FAJC. It tastes great...

Great info, thanks. I've been doing 2.5 gallon batches so I think I could fit the entire case into a big cooler I have. My only worry was that the hot water might melt or warp the cooler. This could potentially save me a bunch of time as my currently process takes over an hour and I'm only...

First, sorry you have lost so many bottles in this process. That really sucks and I admit I would be really hesitant to continue pasteurizing this way if I had gone through the same thing. That being said, I really think the problem is happening because you are letting the bottles touch the...

All you've done at this point is bumped up the ABV of your cider by adding more sugar. Depending on the yeast you are using, it is most likely going to ferment out dry so you will need to add FCAJ again to sweeten it before bottling. No harm done. You just made it a little stronger than you...

I scaled the recipe down to 2.5 gallons. I'm probably going to go with 1.5 cans of FAJC but should I cut the caramel syrup down as well?